"There is no end to self-knowledge."

The Journey Continues – Anger & Hatred & Fear, Oh My!

“Out of chaos come order.” Or so it is said anyway. Almost anywhere you go in the world right now, there is some kind of chaos accompanied by anger, sometimes hatred, but always fueled by fear. Such are the times we live in as the energy from an old era slowly dies while the energy of a new era causes “labor pains” as it begins to be born.

The “old” never dies easily. It struggles and fights against the unavoidable. Those who have grown accustomed to the old, and feel very comfortable with it, are angry that anyone would try to change what has been for so long. It doesn’t matter that much of that “old” no longer works and isn’t relevant to the times we are in. “How dare they!” shout the supporters of the old. “We have to stop them, any way we can.” Fear of the “new“, of the unknown, causes hatred of those who wish to see the new come into being and causes those of the old to use whatever means available to stifle and silence those who would try to change things.

Change is the one constant in the Universe. Without it, we become stagnant and complacent. Whether the proponents of the old want to admit it or not, “death” of the old, the known, is inevitable and “birth” of the new is just as inevitable, no matter how hard they try to stop it.

In the midst of this transition, this struggle, comes chaos. It comes in many forms. Sometimes it comes as protests, sometimes as war; sometimes as discrimination, sometimes as genocide; and sometimes it comes as random violence – one human being against another. This energy is not felt by us humans alone. The animals on the planet feel it and the Earth itself feels it. The chaotic weather patterns as well as the catastrophic upheavals – earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and more – speak to this chaotic energy we are now immersed in.

Bitter cold, unbearable heat, monsoon rains, drought, straight line winds produce conditions that not only put our homes and lives in danger but also, for many, create famine and disease. Chaos rears its head as the energies are stirred and churned to release the patterns of the old and make way for the energies and patterns of the new.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” President Franklin D. Roosevelt was right on the mark when he made that statement in his inaugural address in 1933. It still holds true for us today. We fear that which we feel is out of our control; that which takes us out of our comfort zone; that which indicates we must change. Anger only happens because we are afraid and we are only afraid because we are looking into the face of the Unknown. For some of us, that scares us mightily.

Even if the change we are being asked to accept has no real affect on us personally, we fear it because it is different from the world we have grown so comfortable, so complacent in. Change has always created that effect on some.

There are those who do not and will not feel safe, secure, and even valid unless everyone else thinks, feels, speaks and acts exactly like they do. To do otherwise creates an uneasiness and even doubt within their being that they just cannot abide. Their way must be the right way – and, therefore, the only way – ergo, everyone else is wrong, sinful. In this time of change, these thoughts and feelings are amplified more than they would be at any other time. From this comes the creation of “us and them.” The struggle between the old and the new now escalates.

Those who feel the energies of change and realize that it’s time for things to be different can also get sucked into the radical energy of change. A huge tug-of-war ensues, sometimes to the point of violence on both sides. Although change can be painful even for those looking forward to it (the labor pain of a physical birth is no picnic, even though you’ve been looking forward to the birth), struggling with the believers in the old can be frustrating and exhausting. Why can’t they see why this change is necessary? The truth is, for the most part, you will never convince them otherwise, just as they will never convince you to maintain the old.

Mother Teresa, in all her wisdom, once said, “I was once asked why I don’t participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you hold a pro-peace rally, I’ll be there.” Being an energy worker, when I first read this, I smiled. She was telling us not to focus on what we don’t want, but to focus on what we do want. To move our energies in the direction of what we do want rather than struggling against what we don’t want is to work with the laws of the Universe. This action is invigorating and fulfilling rather than frustrating and exhausting.

Kali is the Hindu goddess of time and change. I find this significant because, in many instances, it does take time to create change. When you’re talking about big changes, especially social issues, nothing happens overnight. Now we are in the midst of sweeping changes, not just in this country, but around the world. The energies that are chaotic and painful tell us this. All you have to do is watch, listen to or read the news. What can we, as individuals, do? If you do nothing else, focus on what you do want and keep your vibrations high. Find something every day to be grateful for and recognize how blessed you life is, no matter how bad you think it is. When you do just that much, those energies ripple out and join with similar energies to help change happen a little more quickly and a little less painfully.